


Dads and Moms and Kids and Canines

by Ava_now



Series: Barisi Dads AU [7]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Barisi family AU, Family, Kidfic, M/M, Mild Smut, mentions of Amanda and her kids, mentions of Barisi extended family, mentions of Frannie the Dog, mentions of Liv - Freeform, mentions of noah, this is mainly sweet fluff with a tiny bit of smut and a tinier bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2021-02-01 03:09:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21350791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ava_now/pseuds/Ava_now
Summary: Rafael and Sonny's daughter Marlene, now three, asks THE question:  "Daddy, why do I have a daddy and a papi but no momma?"In which Barisi tries to explain to a three year old how their family came to be.Plus dogs.  Because who doesn't need a dog?
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr.
Series: Barisi Dads AU [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1541101
Comments: 9
Kudos: 78





	Dads and Moms and Kids and Canines

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading my little AU universe! Kudos and comments are always so appreciated!

It was a crisp fall morning, and Sonny couldn’t help but enjoy taking his time walking Marlene to preschool. The little girl was three now, and more curious than ever. He and Rafael often found themselves at a loss in trying to answer her questions about why the world was the way it was; it seemed last year, she asked “why”nonstop, but this year she expected an answer to her question. “Why you got yellow hair and Papi and me got brown?” she had asked just this morning, as he worked to tame the tight curls back into something resembling a ponytail.

“Because that’s the way God made you,” Sonny answered her, quickly wrapping the band around her fine hair. 

“Why?” she asked again. “Why did God make your hair yellow? Why did you not get brown hair wike me and Papi? Don’t you wike brown, Daddy?”

“Of course I do.” He grinned at her in the mirror, then kissed the top of her head. “My two favorite people have brown hair.”

“Me and Papi!” Marley giggled at their reflection. “We’re your favorites, Daddy!”

As they strolled through the park, Marlene carried on excitedly about her friends at school. Her class had been talking about families, and one of the children’s moms was about to have a baby. “Mitzi’s gotted funny pictures, Daddy! It’s her baby but dere’s no colors and the baby looks funny. Not like Billie...Daddy!” She suddenly gasped and pointed. “Look at that little dog! He’s so cute! Can I pet him?”

“Let’s ask, remember?” Sonny reminded her. They quickly got permission from the owner and Sonny watched proudly as Marlene gently petted the dog’s back with a flat hand. “Good thinking, Marley. You’re making sure that dog knows you’re gentle.”

Marley nodded and stood up. “I’m a good dog sister, Daddy. We need a dog in our family! We gotted a daddy and a papi and a kid, and now we need a dog.”

Sonny chuckled. “That’s something we definitely need to talk to Papi about.”

They made their way down the sidewalk through the park, arriving at the school in plenty of time for the day. “Daddy, look, over dere is my picture of my family!” Marley let go of his hand and ran to a display outside of her classroom, pointing to a large child-made drawing, with a photograph of her, Sonny, and Rafael stapled to the corner. It was a photo that Lucia had snapped at her school carnival; Marley and Rafael were digging in the sand pit and Sonny was adding detail to their castle. The teacher had asked them to send in a family photo, and this was the one Marlene had chosen.

“See, Daddy? It’s me ‘n you ‘n Papi when we went to Abuelitia’s school!” The little girl pointed excitedly to the drawing she had made of her family photo. “See? I even gave Papi his whiskers!” Sonny felt his mouth pull into a grin when he saw how his daughter had focused on the rare occasion that Rafael had grown his facial hair out. She had captured it with brown, black, and white dots all over Rafael’s upper lip, cheeks, and chin.

“I see, sweetie. You sure did remember everything, huh?” He affectionately rubbed the top of Marley’s head, then leaned down to kiss the side of her face. “Are you ready to hang your things up and go to school?”

“Almost.” Marley moved slowly along the wall, taking in each of the photos of other families. “Daddy,” she said, turning back to him, “why do I have a daddy and a papi but no momma?”

Sonny felt his heart freeze in his throat. Of course, he and Rafael had talked about this moment, what they would say, how they would handle it. They had read articles and books, talked to therapists and child specialists and friends, and they had a Plan. 

In the Plan, Sonny and Rafael would sit quietly with their sweet baby and tell her the story of how she came to them. How she had a mommy who grew her and loved her but needed somebody to take extra good care of her baby, because she wasn’t able to yet. A mommy who chose her daddy and papi special, just for baby Marlene, because her mommy trusted they would make sure she was taken care of. And Sonny and Rafael would share the photo they had of Marlene’s birth mother, a letter her mother had written, and reassure her that she was their perfect little girl, precious and wanted from the very moment they learned of her. The Plan always ended with hugs and kisses, happy smiles and an even closer family than they were now.

The Plan, however, never took place at preschool just as the day was about to start. And it certainly did not involve only one parent.

_ DOMINICK! His internal voice scolded him. ANSWER HER! Stall--and make it good! _

“That’s a good question,” Sonny told her, helping her to take off her jacket and hang it up. “I think we should all talk about that at home later.”

“Papi too?”

“Mmhmm.” 

_ Not so bad, his internal voice breathed a sigh of relief. You’ve effectively stalled her… _

Sonny fiddled with her shirt, straightening it needlessly. “All three of us.” Marley nodded and looked at him attentively. Feeling confident, he continued. “But you know that families are all different, right? Like Noah and Jesse have just moms, right?”

Marley nodded slowly. “But Daddy, they gotted moms. I don’t got no mom.” She scrunched up her face as though she was thinking, and he barely had time to register his experience that Marlene’s thinking expression was a dangerous thing. “Is Aunt Wivvy my momma? Or Auntie ‘Manda?” 

His internal dialogue screeched to a halt. 

_ What the hell? Now she thought they’d conceived her with Liv or Amanda??? He couldn’t wait for Rafael to hear this. On second thought, Rafael better never hear any of this. He’d never let Sonny converse with their daughter again. _

He was trying to formulate a response when things suddenly went from bad to worse. Wearing a toothy grin, Marley excitedly asked, “And you’re Jesse’s daddy? And Papi, is he Noah’s daddy? Or Billie’s?” She jumped up and down excitedly. “Does Papi have WOTS of kids???”

_ Terrific, Dominick. Wait until Rafael finds out he’s fathered half of the SVU second generation! _

A giggle followed her words and Sonny reminded himself to breathe.

“Uh, no, honey. Papi and I are your dads, nobody else’s. Only you, no other kids. But I promise we’ll talk about it at home.” Sonny hugged his daughter tightly. “Are you ready for your day at school?”

“You bet!” He watched her head into the classroom, greeted warmly by the teacher, before heading over to the easel and immediately chatting up a little boy. 

_ Was she ready for her day, he laughed internally at himself. This kid was BORN ready. _

***

Rafael sighed, placing a soft kiss on his husband’s shoulder.

He’d been late again for the fourth night this week, and the only way he’d been able to excuse himself from feeling excessively guilty was rationalizing that tomorrow was Saturday. Finally, a day that he would have alone with his husband and his daughter. He’d stayed at work until after ten, when Sonny’s umpteenth text finally grabbed his attention. “Enough, Raf,” it had said, and Rafael knew his husband was right. He packed it up and headed home, knowing he had missed dinner, bathtime, and bedtime yet again.

When he’d arrived, the apartment was quiet and dark. He peeked in on Marlene, and she was sound asleep in her bed, bunny nightlight providing enough light for him to make his way over to her and adjust her blanket. Her curls were askew as usual, and he couldn’t help but gently brush them from her face. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Te amo, ninita,” he whispered softly, before quietly tiptoeing from her room and making his way down the hall.

He had expected Sonny to be annoyed, disappointed, frustrated. Instead, Sonny was dozing quietly on his side of the bed. Rafael undressed quickly, brushed his teeth, then slid between the covers. It only took a few seconds for his husband to run a warm palm over his ass, press a kiss to his lips, and ask, “You locked the bedroom door, right?”

Of course he had. 

A part of Rafael always felt that he didn’t deserve the love that Sonny showered on him. Even after such a stressful week, a court case that was so demanding of his time and kept him from being an equal partner at home, Sonny’s only goal was to spend the time they had together. To shower him with affection, to make sure that Rafael knew he was missed and loved. 

Rafael was tired, but he was more hungry for his husband’s attention. They made love quietly, murmuring endearments to one another; as Sonny moved deeply inside of him, Rafael couldn’t help but whisper how much he’d missed his partner. “I love you, baby...need you. Need this.” His breath was hot on Sonny’s neck and the shell of his ear as they rocked together, until Sonny finally swallowed his words with a hard, deep, desperate kiss.

Now sated, Rafael allowed his hand to rest on Sonny’s hip as his lips pressed gentle kisses along Sonny’s shoulder. “Everyone’s off tomorrow,” he murmured, as much to himself as to Sonny, and he heard Sonny’s affirmative hum.

“We need to talk in the morning,” Sonny murmured quietly, relaxing into his husband’s warm chest. “Marley has some questions. Why she doesn’t have a mom.”

Rafael’s body stiffened. “What do you mean? She actually asked you why she doesn’t have a mom?”

Sonny rolled over to face his husband. “Yeah. She asked. I told her we needed to talk about it at home, the three of us.”

Rafael let out a shaky sigh. “When did this happen? And you didn’t tell me before now? What if I had come home while she was awake and she had asked?” His mind was beginning to race, trying to automatically review the Plan in his head.

The Plan. At midnight. After a fifteen hour day. And an orgasm. 

It wasn’t happening. He knew there was a Plan, but he couldn’t recall the slightest detail at the moment.

“It was this morning,” Sonny explained calmly. “Relax, honey. I would have given you a heads up if you were on your way. Besides, she’s already forgotten about it. All she could talk about tonight is how if you mix red and blue together you can make purple, and now she knows how to make you the perfect color birthday cake.”

Rafael felt the corners of his mouth pull into a slight smile. “She really said that?”

“Yep. Then we talked about lavender. And we played with some paint to figure out how to make it. She was pretty proud when she figured out adding white gave her the color of her papi’s favorite tie.”

“Thanks, Son.” He leaned over and kissed Sonny’s lips. “You always make me feel like I’m here even when I’m not.”

“Hey.” Sonny lay a hand on Rafael’s chest, over his heart. “You are here. Your heart is here. We both have weeks like this sometimes. I do for you and you do for me. That’s why we work.”

Rafael squeezed Sonny’s hand.

He was almost asleep when he heard, “And remember how much you love me when you’re eating purple cake on your birthday..”

***

Rafael was already mixing up the pancake batter when his tousle-haired preschooler wandered into the kitchen, rubbing her eyes.

“Good morning, princesa! You look sleepy still. Would you like some juice?”

Marley’s head gave a strong affirmative nod, but before he could pull the refrigerator door open, she was wrapped around his hip. “I misseded you, Papi,” she commented, rubbing her face into the leg of his sweatpants. “I misseded you SO much. And Daddy misseded you too and me and Daddy are gonna yell at Mistuh DaToy if you don’t come home for dinner next time!”

He tried not to chuckle at her valiant effort to remember Jack McCoy’s name. Instead he bent down and hugged her properly. “I missed you too, mija. Very, very much. But Papi has to do his job, and that’s not Mr. McCoy’s fault. What do you say we have some juice and then we can make our pancakes? Then you can tell me everything I missed while I was at work this week.”

She pulled back from him and squinted one eye closed, looking skeptical. _ “Everything? _ ‘Cos I do a WOT of stuff while you’re at work, Papi.”

“Everything,” he assured her. “And I will listen to it all.”

***

An hour later, Marlene was carefully passing a plate of purple pancakes to Sonny, who was admiring their color. “You and Papi really made some purple pancakes today, Marley Mae. How’d these get so..._ purple _?”

Marlene took a bite of her syrupy cake. “My fingers slipped and I putted a wot of blue in dere...Papi said it’s okay because I’m only fwee.” She shook her head. “Dese are NOT lander like we painted. Dese are purple for sure.”

Sonny chuckled as he glanced at Rafael, who was smiling. “You’re right, these are not lavender.” He took a sip of his coffee, then cleared his throat. “So did you and Papi catch up on the week? You tell him everything he needs to know?”

She nodded her head. “Uh-huh! I did, Daddy! And Papi’s even gonna take me to school on Monday, wight Papi? And me an’ you an’ Papi have a play date with Rosie an’ Aunt Bella an’ Uncle Tommy tomorrow, wight?”

Rafael nodded. “That’s all right, mija. You’ve got a terrific memory.” Rafael felt Sonny’s eyes on him, and he glanced at his husband, then took a long drink of coffee before putting his mug down. “Daddy told me that you guys had a talk about moms and dads.”

Marlene licked the syrup off her fork, then nodded. “Uh huh. And some families are different and some have dads and some have moms and some have dogs.” She started laughing. “Jesse and Billie got a mom and a dog. Can we have dads and a dog?”

This wasn’t what he was anticipating. He made a face at Sonny, who shrugged his shoulders. “Marley,” Sonny began, “I was thinking about your questions about why some kids don’t have a mom or a dad. Do you remember that?”

“Yeah. Papi, is you Noah and Billie’s dad? I say yes but Daddy says no.”

“Uh, NO.” Rafael shook his head firmly, and Sonny chuckled, then said, “Why do you think Papi is their dad, honey?”

She shrugged. “Cos he’s got brown hair, Daddy! Wike you and Jesse got yellow, and me an’ Noah an’ Billie gotted brown.”

“Billie really doesn’t have any hair yet,” Rafael commented, and Sonny rolled his eyes.

“Is that really the point you want to make right now?” Sonny asked him.

“Probably not,” Rafael acknowledged, taking another sip of coffee.

“Baby,” Sonny began again, turning to face Marley, “having the same hair color as a child doesn’t make you the daddy, or the mommy. Some kids look like their parents, and some don’t.” 

Sonny watched as their daughter mulled over this new bit of information. “Then what makes you the daddy or the mommy?”

“Well,” Rafael carefully entered the discussion, “when you agree to take care of a child, that makes you a parent. Do you remember when Aunt Amanda was going to have Billie? Moms have this wonderful ability to grow a baby—-”

“Like Mitzi’s mom,” Marlene interrupted. “Her belly’s weally big and Mitzi’s gonna be a sister!”

“I don’t know who that is,” Rafael said, more to Sonny than to Marlene. Sonny mouthed _ school _and Rafael nodded. “Your friend from school. A lot of times moms and dads are able to take good care of their babies, and they agree to do just that. Then they become parents. But sometimes a mom thinks she might not be able to take care of her baby, and she asks other people who would like to become parents for help. When that happens, it’s called adoption. Moms and dads who would like to be parents offer for the baby to be their baby, and the mom agrees. You, were adopted, sweetie.” Rafael gently tucked Marley’s loose curls behind her ear. “Daddy and I wanted to be fathers very, very much, and we met a mom who needed some help and wanted us to be parents. Your parents. We were very, very lucky that she chose us for such a precious baby.”

Marley looked from Rafael to Sonny, whose large blue eyes were regarding her very seriously. “Do you understand what Papi is explaining to you, honey? You have a mom who grew you and chose us to be your parents.”

The little girl tapped her bottom lip thoughtfully. “What’s her name?” She turned quickly to Rafael. “I know, Papi! She could come on our play date tomorrow!” A second later, she mused, “Maybe she has a doggie she can give us.”

Sonny saw the deer-in-the-headlights look pass over his husband’s face, and quickly patted Marlene’s hand. “Honey, her name is Corrine. But Papi and I don’t know where she is. When she agreed for Papi and me to be your dads, we all agreed that she wasn’t going to be a mom yet. Maybe when you grow up, but not now.”

“Well guys, how will I know if she’s got a dog?” Marley grumbled. She looked from Sonny’s compassionate expression to Rafael’s uncertain one, then rested her head in her hand. “Some moms have dogs. You guys don’t even knowed if she got a dog.” After a moment, she began to eat her pancake again.

***

As they were cleaning up the kitchen, Rafael glanced over his shoulder at their daughter raptly watching Cesar Milan training a dog on Animal Planet. “Somehow I think I completely blew that,” he murmured to Sonny.

“No way.” Sonny kissed his temple. “Hey, just because she’s more interested in a canine sibling doesn’t mean she didn’t hear that everyone loves her.”

Rafael snorted. “Optimist.”

***

“Hey Papi,” Marlene was sitting next to him on the couch while he combed out her hair. He had taken over bathtime tonight while Sonny had gone to meet friends for a drink. Rafael knew he needed a break after a week of full-time daddy, and Rafael needed more time to be a dad.

“Yes, mija.” He ran the comb through her wet curls easily now, but neither of them seemed in a hurry to stop. He felt her little body relax into his.

“I think that momma that growed me is smart wike me.” She reached up and tangled her fingers in his hand, carefully prying the brush away.

“Why do you say that?” he asked, handing the brush to her, and using his fingers to continue smoothing her hair.

“Because,” she said, turning to him and placing a hand on either side of his face, “she knowed you and Daddy are the wight dads for me.” She patted his cheeks. “Probably that momma wikes dogs too.”

He wrapped his arms around her and raised one eyebrow. “You think so, huh?”

She nodded. “Yep.” She moved her thumbs to the corners of his mouth, then wiggled his lips up and down. “I love you, Papi. Even if you didn’t get a dog from that momma who growed me in her belly. You’re my very best papi and I love you so, so, SO much!” She puckered her lips and leaned in, then smacked a kiss on his mouth.

“Thanks, mija,” he told her. “You’re my very best Marley and I love you to the moon.”

“Can we read _ There’s A NIghtmare In My Closet _?”

“I believe we can, princesa. Why don’t you go get it? I’ll wait here for you.”

“Okay.”

He watched her skip down the hallway to her bedroom. When did his three year old get so wise? He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, and pulled it out to see a text from Sonny.

_ SC: Don’t worry. You can’t fail when you love her this much. And yeah, you’re thinking too loud. _

He smirked to himself, then texted back.

_ RB: I can’t believe I’m putting this in print, but you’re right. Don’t let it get to your head. _

“Here it is, Papi!” Marlene climbed back in his lap and helped him open the book. “Can I read with you?”

“Sure,” he told her, letting her help turn the pages. “Ready?”

  
She nodded, and they began to read together: _ “There used to be a nightmare in my closet…” _


End file.
